(This post originally appeared on DitchThatTextbook.com)

Live sketchnoting (doodling while someone is talking) is the most challenging form of sketchnoting. It is stressful at first, but it gets easier over time with practice. Here are some tips for live sketchnoting:

1. Before you begin, draw a banner, maybe a portrait of the speaker/teacher, the date and place. This will settle you down and get the creative juices flowing for sketchnoting.
2. You don’t have to write down everything, just capture the parts that stick out for you. Capturing ten to twenty points of the talk/lesson is fine.
3. You can add more doodles and embellishments later such as icons, containers and frames, banners, arrows, dividers and fancy fonts.
4. Don’t stress! Sketchnoting is supposed to be fun! Don’t worry about quality of your sketchnote, just get the key points down and enjoy the learning process. Over time with practice, you will find live sketchnoting easier and easier.
5. SHARE your sketchnotes! I enjoy live sketchnoting during keynote addresses in conferences. When I’m finished, I share my sketchnote as a gift with the speaker who is always delighted to receive it. With the Procreate app that I draw with on my iPad, I can export the sketchnote as a video from the beginning to the end of my drawing. In iMovie, I can then add music then upload to YouTube. To see a YouTube playlist of my live sketchnotes, visit bit.ly/SylLiveSketchnotes.

If you (and your students) want to get started sketchnoting right away please visit sylviaduckworth.com/sketchnotefever for 21 free sketchnoting lessons. Please share your sketchnotes on social media with the hashtag #sketchnotefever!

For more tips and tricks for getting started with sketchnoting in the classroom, please check out my new book,  “How to Sketchnote: A Step-by-Step Manual for Teachers and Students”, available on Amazon. The book includes access to an online database of sketchnoting icons and many scaffolded activities to introduce sketchnoting to your students.

Happy sketchnoting!

XXOO

Sylvia